When Ravinder S. Sandhu accepted his
family’s offer to become operations manager of Advanced Assembly Products Inc.,
the struggling company had one customer
and one product, and it was on the verge
of closing its doors.
Seventeen years later, Sandhu’s motivation, passion, innovation and determination
have turned the company’s focus from manufacturing one product to meeting the specific needs of General Motors, Webasto,
Tower and other tier one automotive companies.
To achieve that success, Sandhu has
focused on promoting a team mentality by
hiring employees who are trustworthy, highly skilled and motivated. Each new employee is assigned a mentor and is then asked to
create quarterly goals. Employees are then
rewarded based on two factors: the successful completion of their goals and the
financial performance of the company.
This has helped attract the best employees
in the industry, who were instrumental in
creating an automated assembly system that
gave AAP a competitive advantage in the
global market. The system has helped the
company reduce costs, increase throughput
and improve product quality, and it was a
key reason why the company was named
2007 General Motors Supplier of the Year.
As Sandhu continues his pursuit to grow
the company, he is working to assimilate
Global Advance Products LLC, acquired in
2005, into AAP’s culture. And once he’s
accomplished that, he plans to acquire
another company in the same industry, with
the goal of increasing revenue by 150 percent over the next five years.
HOW TO REACH: Advanced Assembly Products Inc., Global
Advanced Products LLC, (248) 543-2427
